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I Miss BSD/Linux

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Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#171

Post by throwaway1105q »

vundercind wrote: post #115
throwaway1105q wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but does anybody buy it? In my store the peripherals are covered in dust... And it's some cheap Chinese knockoff, nothing like the old high quality ones.

Yes? My company’s mostly Windows and the peripherals issued are all brand new and are all usb-a. We Mac weirdos have to dongle constantly or not use them. Even the non-Apple major brand Bluetooth wireless earbuds they issue have a usb-a plug on the end of the charging cable for the case.

I was scared of getting a Mac for years because of the dongles. Then I got one from work (they even gave me the dongle and I made fun of it) and turns out I never use any of it. And then I realized the USB-A port on my desktop front panel has been broken probably for years and I didn't notice.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#172

Post by baq »

You can have Microsoft Linux in the form of WSL2 though and it’s a damn good piece of software; Microsoft’s saving grace on an otherwise - let’s be honest here - idiotic win 11. It’s almost worse than macOS.

My ideal device would be a MacBook Air with a 100% functioning Linux - as in, audio, external displays, usb hubs, chargers etc just work. macOS is crapware and borderline a disgrace for the excellent hardware of the MacBook.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#173

Post by tiagod »

ginko wrote: post #168
Koshkin wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just not a good fit for my lap.

That's what desks are for.. Seriously though, how much do you move with your development computer? I can't imagine being productive without at least two large screens and a fullsize keyboard and trackball anyways..

I have a similar setup to yours, but end up working (for my job, or for personal enjoyment) more than half the time on a single 14" screen, wherever (kitchen table, my couch, someone else's couch, outside, ...).

For some kind of work, I find the extra screen space very useful, but for other tasks it ends up being distracting.

Having a light, quiet laptop that keeps itself cool and has a long battery life is what makes it possible.

And when it's not enough, I can plug a single usb-c cable and have it charging, and connected to a keyboard, mouse, two screens, gigabit ethernet and speakers/headphones.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#174

Post by squarefoot »

vunderba wrote: post #166
entropicdrifter wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as Ableton goes, have you tried Reaper? Reaper has a native Linux version and generally works quite well IMO. One of the better DAWs and certainly one of the cheapest to purchase a license for.

Unless Reaper has drastically changed since the last time I used it, it's not even in the same ballpark as Ableton. Ableton strength is using it as a pattern based nonlinear editor and live production. I can't even imagine doing something like that in reaper. To me reaper is more like a superior version of audacity than a competitor to things like Logic Pro, FL Studio, etc.

> To me reaper is more like a superior version of audacity

I can't tell about Ableton as i never used it, but Reaper is on a totally different planet compared to Audacity. I used Cakewalk Sonar (on Windows) for years until I discovered Reaper, and didn't look back. Then they made the Linux version which works like charm, although the Windows version runs extremely well with very low latency too using WINE. I'm all for using FOSS software, and it hurts me because Audacity is the "good guy" here, but it's really way way inferior compared to just everything else.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#175

Post by MarkusWandel »

wormius wrote: post #137
jwells89 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power/battery tuning differing between manufacturers, models, and even specific SKUs within models is perhaps the greatest hurdle to be overcome. It makes baking those settings into distros by default impractical and means there isn’t an easy string of commands that anybody can run to improve battery life on their Linux laptop.

I'm not a laptop user so I alas never consider these things in my needs, but I imagine "Year of the Desktop" will be followed up with "Year of the Laptop"

For me the "Year of the Laptop" happened ages ago. Everything from old clunkers to a relatively modern HP Elitebook 840 G6... install Fedora, done. I think the fingerprint reader might be tough, and Bluetooth on Linux is truly a sad state of affairs. But everything else works out of the box, and that includes suspend/resume and other power management, the special keys, Wifi and so on. WebGL just works, no need to tweak a whitelist, and battery life is on par with when the thing was running Windows 10. With SSD, and a fan that hardly runs in light use, the Elitebook is a sweet Linux machine.

I even use it on the Displaylink type USB-C dock that my current work laptop came with. Installing the Displaylink driver was a bit of "old school Linux" since the installer was Ubuntu only. But not too traumatic, and dock/undock also works perfectly.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#176

Post by skydhash »

tracker1 wrote: post #110
dmz73 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, Debian is like Linux on desktop, always 80% there. You just cannot trust that plain Debian will get it right, even if it works that one time you install it. Two most recent issues that made me change to something else: 1) VLC in Debian is modified so it cannot play RTSP streams so you cannot watch video from your security camera. Windows VLC wroks. Flatpak VLC works. 2) Debian kernel update in point re…

I've been pretty happy with Pop (downstream from Debian/Ubuntu) myself. Not sure why it doesn't get much love compared to say Mint.

Linux Mint is basically what Windows should have been. An OS for productive use. Defaults are good enough that you’re almost never tempted to change them. Just install your software and do work. XP (SP3?) was it and Win7 was it too. Everything after that is fighting against you.

macOS is close too, but there’s a couple of painful points. Some basic windows management (solved by rectangle), iCloud doing too many things, and too much locking down for “security”.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#177

Post by skydhash »

pjmlp wrote: post #130
vundercind wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience has been that Linux is significantly more stable under a VM on Windows or Mac than directly on all but the most conservative hardware. Fewer weird multimedia glitches, no needing to involve any part of the Linux wireless stack of any kind (Bluetooth especially, but also WiFi), fewer video driver issues, fewer program or windowing system crashes.

Because the virtual hardware is a more stable surface, than the plethora of hardware Linux is supposed to run on. That is what I have been doing since hardware virtualization became mainstream.

Currently doing the same with macOS as the host. Still have the nice apps but with a better dev platform.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#178

Post by babypuncher »

luyu_wu wrote: post #165
babypuncher wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I blame perhipheral manufacturers for clinging to USB-A for no reason. It's been 8 years, please let this connector die already.

The chain of blame can be pushed further. Peripheral manufacturers laergely targrt desktop users, of which almost no motherboards support USB-C.

It's a chicken and egg scenario. Motherboard manufacturers load up their I/O panels with USB A ports because people demand them. People demand them because all their perhipherals, like the dongle for their wireless mouse, are USB-A.

Logitech recently released an updated version of my mouse, the G Pro Superlight 2, and the damn thing still ships with a USB-A dongle.

With how many ports modern motherboards often ship with, I would think they could at least split the difference and give me 1/2 USB-C and 1/2 USB-A. but nope, my 2 year old motherboard only has 1 USB-C port on the back and a dozen USB-A. Then at least we would have a path forward.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#179

Post by tracker1 »

skydhash wrote: post #176
tracker1 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been pretty happy with Pop (downstream from Debian/Ubuntu) myself. Not sure why it doesn't get much love compared to say Mint.

Linux Mint is basically what Windows should have been. An OS for productive use. Defaults are good enough that you’re almost never tempted to change them. Just install your software and do work. XP (SP3?) was it and Win7 was it too. Everything after that is fighting against you. macOS is close too, but there’s a couple of painful points. Some basic windows management (solved by rectangle), iCloud doing too many thing…

I realize this... I was suggesting that Pop is every bit as ready to use as Mint.

Re: I Miss BSD/Linux

#180

Post by bsder »

area51org wrote: post #87
sumuyuda wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s still no USB-A support, so the dongle book was never truly fixed.

Given that the industry is trying to retire USB-A for good, this doesn't seem likely.

USB-A is, in fact, the thing that drove me off of Apple for good.

There is a decent minority of people for whom USB-A eventually stops working and requires a reboot to restore.

The dongle doesn't matter. The dock doesn't matter. The device doesn't matter. Software updates do not fix it. The thread on it is 40+ pages when Apple closes it and then another 40+ page thread on it reappaears.

The problem is an OS problem. I can pinpoint precisely the OS update that caused it. Apple does not care and will not fix it.

Fine, I get it. So I left for Linux and never looked back.

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